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2018 Books in Review

December 31, 2018 by Liz

In 2018, I (Liz, your resident teen library assistant) read 16 young adult books. I ended the year with Pride, by Ibi Zoboi.

The book begins like this:

“It’s a truth universally acknowledged that when rich people move into the hood, where it’s a bit broken and a little bit forgotten, the first thing they want to do is clean it up. But it’s not just the junky stuff they’ll get rid of. People can be thrown away too, like last night’s trash left out on sidewalks or pushed to the edge of wherever all broken things go. What those rich people don’t always know is that broken and forgotten neighborhoods were first built out of love.”

The Pride and Prejudice retelling delves into gentrification in New York and that’s one of my favorite things about young adult literature: it doesn’t shy away from difficult subjects and uses stories to address the real pain and confusion and struggles and triumphs that we all face in various arenas and varying capacities.

Some of the books I read this year are deep and thought-provoking. Others are mysterious or dystopian or just fun. There’s something on this list for every type of reader! Enjoy!